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"The outcome for those children, who arguably are those that most need to be taught about Islam, are no longer being taught about it.

"It is not clear whether or not this is a widespread issue in Thurrock, but it is clear that SACRE needs to investigate.

"Schools have a statutory duty to promote community cohesion."

The advisory council may also conduct an investigation into the nature and extent of pupils being withdrawn from religious education.

Children are being taken out of classes in school because of their content (Image: PA)

Thurrock has seen rapid change when it comes to ethnic and religious diversity.

Back in 2008, Eric Kaufman, an academic, discussed how communities with a higher percentage of white British residents would experience 'major tensions and challenges' when faced with migration to their area.

However, he presented that communities with more non-white or British residents had less opposition.

Therefore, areas that actually had a higher number of non-white or British residents are less likely to oppose to the migration.

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What does the data say?

Less than one in five people in Thurrock recorded their ethnicity as non-White British in the 2011 census.

With that being eight years ago, data from 2012 shows just over a quarter of Thurrock school-aged children are from a black and minority ethnic group, compared with 19 per cent of the total population in the UK.

Nearly two-thirds of religious residents of the borough are Christian (63 per cent), followed by 25 per cent having no religion.

Only two per cent classed themselves Muslim, whereas Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and Jews were all under one per cent.

The number of schools studying Religious Education

SACRE are concerned over the pupils not receiving RE

The report revealed that less than half - 44 per cent - of school's KS3 students are learning religious education and 3.6 per cent of them are spending one and a half hours on the subject, believed to be weekly.

It stated: "There are concerns with the lack of awareness for other religions as it has increased to 55 per cent of hate crime on religious people."

In the meeting, The Chair, Reverend J. Guest, said that Thurrock schools should be explored to see whether they are using the agreed syllabus and if they are failing to do so, the reason behind this.

It revealed that The Associate Adviser for Religious Education, Deborah Weston, has recommended the subject name to changed to Religion and Worldviews from Religious Education.

It also came to light that three nominated councillors had failed to attend the committee on two separate occasions, as they have a requirement to attend the SACRE meeting.

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The report said there is no provision for RE in year 11, which would 'be a breach of the academy funding agreement'.

The Ockendon Academy

Data suggests the school teaches the lesson, however, the number of pupils studying RE has declined in recent years.

William Edwards School

No RE for years 7 and 10, but in year 7 RE may be included in a creative curriculum programme.

SACRE believe the subject was an option in 2017, and the school has said that the students learn RE through a number of focus days throughout the year.

Not all schools in Thurrock are providing RE course content for their students

Hathaway Academy

The school reports no hours for RE in years 7, 8 and 9. In 2015, almost the full year 11 were entered for the GCSE full course and had excellent results which were above the national average.

The following year this was reversed and only a small group were entered and had received significantly poorer results.

The Gateway Academy

No hours for RE in years 7 and 8, but provision is made in years 9, 10 and 11.

Ormiston Park Academy

No provision for RE in any school year, and no GCSE entries in 2016 or 2017. The school website states one lesson is taught in years 7 and 8 and two in years 9, 10 and 11, however, SACRE could not find information about the curriciulum.

Hassenbrook Academy

No RE taught in any school year, however, content is taught within the curriculum map, but does not follow the Agreed Syllabus. There were also no GCSE entries between 2016 and 2018.

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Most hate crime in Thurrock is against people who are Muslim

The report has been released at a time when four out of five hate crimes are racist in nature, according to another study.

Between April 2015 and the end of September 2017, 85 per cent of all hate crimes were to do with racism, and 63 per cent of religious hate crimes were offences against Muslim victims, according to the Thurrock Community Safety Partnership report.

The British Social Attitudes Survey of 2008 showed that religion, for many citizens, is a strong feature of their identity:

33 per cent said that religion is an important aspect of their life

61 per cent said that religion is an important aspect of how they define themselves

90 per cent who class themselves as Asian said that religion is important to them

93 per cent of Muslims and 90 per cent of Sikhs said that religion is an important part of their identity.

Do you think parents should be allowed to take their children out of the classes?